EXCERPT: When things are going great with your interns, worker shares, or seasonal laborers, you have no lawsuits, no lawyer, and no problem. But things can always go wrong. If farmers aren’t aware of what their rights and responsibilities are regarding employees, they might face some pretty uncomfortable consequences. Plus, we all want to be fair. The law is one place to start in deciding how to hire and pay help in a way that’s fair for everyone.

EXCERPT: Big Money has long played a hand in commodity markets. Now tycoons such as George Soros, British icons such as Lord Rothschild and pension giants such as TIAA-CREF are among the new breed of global investors. They hope to strike gold by not simply buying futures contracts, but by investing directly in the world’s frontier farmland. Some of China’s largest agricultural companies also have joined the fray as a way to secure steady food imports.

EXCERPT: The word “farming” means something, and its meaning is not “gardening,” and it’s not “puttering,” and it’s not “edible landscaping.” As small farm advocate Mary Berry Smith likes to emphasize, farming must mean (among many other obvious things, like real work) putting equity at risk.

About

Beginning Farmers offers information on how to start a farm, planning a new farm, funding resources and finding land to start your farm on. We cover all areas of farming from raising chickens and goats to mushroom production, and urban farms to business farming. Internships and employment opportunities posted regularly.